Vehicles stuck along a road as residents of the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek evacuate from the Bekaa Valley town on October 30, 2024, following a statement by the Israeli army spokesman warning residents residents about imminent attacks. —AFP

American mediators are working on a proposal to end hostilities between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, starting with a 60-day ceasefire, two sources said Wednesday, but Israel pressed its offensive and ordered residents to evacuate the city. from Baalbek, in eastern Lebanon.

The sources, a person briefed on the talks and a senior diplomat working in Lebanon, told Reuters that the two-month period would be used to finalize full implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701. adopted in 2006 to keep southern Lebanon free of foreign weapons. state control.

The latest effort comes as Israel’s operation against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon continues to expand. His army on Wednesday issued a first evacuation order for Baalbek, where tens of thousands of Lebanese, mostly Shiite Muslims, resided, including many who had fled other areas.

These warnings are usually followed by shelling, and Governor Bachir Khodr asked residents to evacuate to the north.

Bilal Raad, regional head of Lebanese civil defense, said the largely volunteer force had been asking residents to leave through megaphones after receiving phone calls from someone who identified himself as a member of the Israeli army.

“People are piled up, the whole city is panicking trying to decide where to go, there’s a huge traffic jam,” he said.

Some of the areas they flee to are already filled with displaced people.

Antoine Habchi, a lawmaker representing majority-Christian Deir Al Ahmar, northwest of Baalbek, said more than 10,000 people were already sheltering in homes, schools and churches before Wednesday’s evacuation order.

“We welcome everyone, of course, but we need immediate help from the government so that these people are not left stranded,” he told Reuters.

For the third day in a row, Hezbollah reported heavy fighting with Israeli forces in or around the southern city of Khiyam – the deepest penetration by Israeli troops into Lebanon since the fighting began.

Israeli strikes on Sarafand in southern Lebanon killed at least 10 people on Tuesday, most of them women and children, while another attack on the port city of Sidon killed at least five people and injured 37, Lebanese authorities said.

Resolution 1701 has been the cornerstone of talks to end the last year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which broke out in parallel with the war in Gaza and has escalated dramatically in the past five weeks.

“We would like to reiterate that we seek a diplomatic resolution that fully implements 1701 and allows Israeli and Lebanese citizens to return to their homes on both sides of the border,” Sama Habib, spokesperson for the US embassy in Beirut, said when contacted. he asked her. about the reported proposal.

US presidential envoy Amos Hochstein, who is working on the new ceasefire proposal, told reporters in Beirut earlier this month that better enforcement mechanisms were needed, as neither Israel nor Lebanon had fully implemented the resolution.

Israeli and American officials believe Hezbollah is finally willing to disengage from Hamas in Gaza after taking major hits, including the assassination of its leader Hassan Nasrallah, according to the Axios report.